Bishop Finn not indicted

UPDATE: A reader points out, correctly, that I’ve misread the story. This is a story about prosecutors in A DIFFERENT COUNTY choosing not to seek an indictment against Bishop Finn. He remains under indictment in Jackson County. I apologize for the error, and have made corrections below and in the headline. It may be the case that prosecutors in Clay County whiffed, but the fact remains, Bp Finn is still under indictment in Jackson County, where he was originally indicted.

News from Kansas City: no trial for Catholic bishop Robert Finn on misdemeanor charges that he covered up for an alleged pervert priest:

Bishop Robert Finn today avoided facing a criminal misdemeanor indictment in his handling of a priest facing child pornography charges by agreeing to enter into a diversion program with the Clay County prosecutor.

Authorities have pledged not to prosecute Finn, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, if he lives up to the terms of a five-year diversion agreement.

More:

Finn’s agreement with Clay County requires him to meet face-to-face each month with White for the next five years to discuss any allegations of child sex abuse levied against clergy or diocesan staff within the diocese’s Clay County facilities. Finn also is to describe what steps the diocese has taken to address the allegations. White would then decide whether to encourage police to investigate any allegations.

“Whoever is responsible within the church hierarchy needs to say to Bishop Finn, you’re not going to be bishop in Kansas City,” she said.

That suggestion by members of the hierarchy, Christensen said, should come about in order to help the Kansas City diocese try to heal.

“[Finn] didn’t do what should have been done, and, quite frankly, he’s lost credibility with a lot of people,” she said. “A lot of people no longer trust him. How are we going to heal our church in that situation? How do we heal in the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph?”

Good for the DA. He knew he didn’t have evidence for a conviction, and he achieved something better than a pound of flesh hysterically acquired: a concrete plan for ensuring that the authorities will be informed of all allegations.

“A concrete plan for ensuring that the authorities will be informed of all allegations”? Really? The “concrete plan” is a promise by a bishop who already made this promise in 2008, but lied about it. The man is untrustworthy.

I LOVE it! The local representative of the Vicar of Christ allows himself to be supervised by the county prosecutor in order to avoid criminal prosecution. How can the institutional church have any credibility or moral authority after that?
I hope victims get judgments large enough bankrupt the dioceses, and that the courts appoint serious lay Catholics to manage their finances. I bet Rome would pay attention to that.

This was a cowardly act of the Prosecutor White of Kansas City, MO – he probably feared a tribalist reaction from Catholics at the polls – subtle pressure applied by the bishop and his minions. Oversight?! My God! Bishop Finn is a member of cabal that conspires to cover-up sexual abuse and protect predators. Regrettably it sounds like the only kind of justice that’s going to happen; the only way children will be protected is of the U.S. Attorney General to step in and investigate this. And I’m no fan of Eric Holder who I’m sure would love to grind his own axes against any Catholic bishop (Eric Holder if you remember has/had U.S. Marshalls protecting abortion clinics.

I guess one could wait and see what happens in Pennsylvania – there a tough law on sexual abuse is hung up in committee – partly because the Catholic bishops are fighting it. Perhaps the whole debacle in “Happy Valley” (aka Penn State) might shake the bishops’ gripe loose and then it spreads over the whole nation. I’d hope so – as I really don’t want to let Holder at ’em.

He would not have been the first prosecutor to be hounded out of office because of an unpopular decision. And a bad case with lots of media exposure would be career suicide. Hell, a good case that the voters don’t like is career suicide.

Don’t a lot of misdemeanor/supplementary charges get handled this way? I thought the aim – particularly in this era of budgetary constraint – was to do your best to settle out of court.

Anyway, speaking as an active Catholic, this Bishop needs to be removed. How on earth can his superiors look at this, in this age, and not see him as a thoroughly compromised figure? I grant that the charges against him were not very severe, but he clearly failed to do his basic due diligence and follow his diocese’s own guidelines.

I only wish that those Catholic’s of the traditionalist/conservative camp could see beyond the good that Bishop Finn has done for liturgical orthodoxy within their diocese and see the evil fruits of the sins of commission and omission elsewhere by the same Bishop.

In truth, that wish goes for those in traditionalist and conservative camps in every diocese. I’ve been involved in too many Catholic circles with those who judge the reign of their bishop something like this: